Ordinary Sudan – Iris Seri-Hersch & Elena Vezzadini

On December 14, 2023, Livres & MAM hosted Iris Seri-Hersch (IREMAM) and Elena Vezzadini (IMAF) to discuss their book "Ordinary Sudan, 1504–2019. From Social History to Politics from Below" (2 vols, De Gruyter, 2023). The interview was led by Ahmed al-Shahi (University of Oxford). This book starts from the premise that the study of "exceptionally normal" women and men – as conceived by microhistory – has radical implications for understanding history and politics, and applies this notion to Sudan. Against a historiography dominated by elite actors and international agents, it examines both how ordinary people have brought about the most important political shifts in the country’s history (including the recent revolution in 2019) and how they have played a role in maintaining authoritarian regimes. It also explores how men and women have led their daily lives through a web of ordinary worries, desires and passions. The book includes contributions by historians, anthropologists, and political scientists who often have a dual commitment to Middle Eastern and African studies. While focusing on the complexity and nuances of Sudanese local lives in both the past and the present, it also connects Sudan and South Sudan with broader regional, global, and imperial trends. The book is divided into two volumes and six parts, ordered thematically. The first part tackles the entanglement between archives, social history, and power. The second focuses on women’s agency in history and politics from the Funj era to the recent 2018-2019 revolution. Part 3 includes contributions on the history and global connections of the Sudanese armed forces. In the second volume, part 4 intersects the themes of urban life, leisure, and colonial attitudes with queerness. In part 5, labour identities, practices, and institutions are discussed both in urban milieus and against the background of war and expropriation in rural areas. Finally, part 6 studies the construction of social consent under various self-styled Islamic regimes, as well as the emergence of alternative imaginaries and acts of citizenship in times of political openness. Livres & MAM is a series of interviews organized by IREMAM and the MMSH library with the authors of recent academic books on the Arab and Muslim worlds. The episodes are available on IREMAM's YouTube channel and can be listened to as podcasts on Spotify and the main platforms (Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public and soon others). Design and production: Thomas Pierret